CHINA: PARALYMPICS/OLYMPIC GAMES: Beijing celebrates one-year countdown to the 2008 Paralympics

Over 5,000 people gather at the Millennium Monument in Beijing on Thurday (September 6) night to celebrate the one-year countdown to the 2008 Paralympic Games. The host city of Beijing invited the world to the 2008 Beijing Paralympics with a dazzling song-and-dance and fireworks display. More than half of the performers are people with disabilities. The capital city will host the Olympic Games which start on August 8, 2008, and the Paralympics in September the same year. China sees the Olympics as a chance to showcase its development into one of the world's fastest-growing economies. "To present two equally impressive Games is a commitment made by Beijing and by China. It is also a common aspiration shared by all the Chinese people including over 80 million people with disabilities," said Deng Pufang, executive president of the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee. The 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, with a theme of "excellence, unity and sharing", are designed to show the sports spirit of people with disabilities. "We can count on and look forward to the astonishing performances the paralympians never fail to deliver. It is their tremendous strength, their tremendous courage, and in particular, their infectious spirit that will provide the magic of the Games," said Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee. Beijing is spending an estimated $35-40 billion on upgrading its infrastructure ahead of the Games in addition to $2.1 billion on running them, providing lucrative contracts to some companies and jobs to tens of thousands. Barrier-free facilities are being built at the stadiums and various public places. Around 30,000 volunteers are being recruited to give help during the Games. The Paralympics is expected to attract more than 4,000 athletes from 162 countries to Beijing. The one-hour-and-half hour ceremony ended with Beijing's new anthem, the just-released pop song "We're Ready", being sung by the Hong Kong singer Jackie Chan on a stage built under banks of searchlights.

ITN Source | September 7, 2007

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